To Recreate the Beauty of the World in a Short Distance — Exploring the profound mystery of micro ar

In exhibition hall, the creation of scenes is the result of thinking about the relationship between people and space.

Hereafter, the miniature technique integrated into the scene has witnessed the innovation of exhibition form.

Here, a window will be open, leading us into exploring the miniature scene of the exhibition hall.


With micro object, creating the beauty of the scene


In daily life, the scaled-down model of the commodity on display stand often attracting our attention is actually a form of representation of micro art. Before discussing the scene, we should firstly have the concept of micro art in our minds, so as to understand the specific application of micro art in the scene. More broadly, it refers to all artistic forms with the concept of reduction. Its creation process is to reduce the existing scenery or the ones once existed, and artistic creation conception in proportion to a certain proportion, make them with near real materials, and finally present them to the audience.

It has always been existed in eastern or western art. In a broad sense, western micro art originated in the European middle ages, reflecting the sculpture of religious theme and the creation of various small art. In the ancient eastern world, it is not difficult to find works of art created with micro thinking, such as the Terra Cotta Warriors of the Han dynasty, Tang Tri-Color Glazed Ceramics, buddhist figures, clay sculptures, stone carvings, wood carvings, snuff bottles, etc.



The changes for these micro art works condensing the designer's ingenuity from big to small, promote the representational symbol. For example, in the ancient east, in the influence of the funeral view "paying much attention to dead as to living", people reached a consensus, so the real-world person-to-person ratio was reduced to a life-like terracotta figure, accompanying the deceased. Not only does it satisfy their spiritual longing in their minds, but also become a sign of society progress.



Photography can record a portion of what is seen in life, while the micro art is able to condense the beauty of what is seen closely at hand, which reproduces the scene. The appearance of micro art provides more choices for the reproduction of scenes, of which the exquisite craftsmanship reflects the contemporary "artisan spirit". When we pursue a connection with each other, we should understand the memory hidden in our hearts and always grasp the commonalities that hold us together, and the scene reproduced in micro art can satisfy this desire.


With spiritual skill, showing the interest of the exhibition hall


How do we determine whether a scene created in micro art is attractive to the viewer? It needs to be discussed in a specific space, the exhibition hall.



Meticulous care and flawless artistry, keep going without stopping


The scene is "alive" in the exhibition hall. Through the production of micro landscape, supplemented by props, models, painting (half landscape painting) and other space elements that jointly constitute the scene, different arrangement and combination ways are created for different emotional atmosphere, so that visitors can resonate with it from the senses and psychology.



Exhibition hall applied ancient buildings for micro art landscapes properly interprets the continuation of the "life" of China’s ancient architecture, which not only solves the limitation of the external displaying of ancient buildings, but also helps visitors understand the origin of architectural design.


Due to its potential pictograph, each one is in different style


For the development of the exhibition hall in each period, the scene will be changed according to different requirements of different purposes. It will grow, and even progress, which is the way for the exhibition hall constantly seeking for avoid being homogenized.



In modern exhibition hall, when applying a micro art in performing a busy street by using the background picture to create a sense of space, combined with the model or the single chip in front, the content of picture, tone, perspective relation, etc. will form a natural connection and transition among the model connecting with the scene as a whole, successfully creating a three-dimensional space with multiple levels and a integration of fiction and reality, which gives visitors an immersive experience. If the exhibition space allows, the designer can also restore the main street of the town through the full three-dimensional miniature model, and present it to the visitors in an all-round way, so as to "vividly" present the landscape of the town, bringing strong visual impact, and perfectly combining the aesthetic art and educational function.



Since then, as constant exploring within the industry, the application of scene displaying in the exhibition halls has become more mature. Over two decades in the exhibition industry, I have engaged in the industry and conducted a variety of scenes of micro art with different themes in all kinds of exhibition halls. When making scenes, I pay a close attention to grasping the essence of the scene development, and constantly think about how work on a scene that can be transformed into an exhibition which is interesting, instructive and artistic. Usually, I will think about what information the visitor wants to obtain from the scene of the exhibition hall in the perspective of visitors, because the emotional needs of the visitors will be different for different themes.


with inventive minds, make a storytelling


We have to admit that when the building space of the exhibition hall is limited, or the traditional way cannot satisfy the visitors, the micro art has to complete the way of "storytelling".
As there's not enough room for exhibition hall, a micro art will condense the natural features of an ancient city, the structure of an ancient building, the process of an ancient battle and even the landscape of different cultures into a limited space, taking visitors across time and space for sense of experience in "different time and space" or in" different culture", here we can find the meaning of the miniature art beyond the scene display.
In addition to the traditional micro art, digital technology has become an important driving force, promoting the progress of scene display, as well as a reality combining micro art with sound, light, electricity and digital technology in the scene. The designers recreated the micro art in particular period with reasonable use of sound, lighting, voice system, projection, digital special effects realistically, moreover, meeting the interactivity, openness and diversity of display to make visitors fully appreciate the miniature charm of art and digital technology in the scene, and obtain a unique aesthetic experience.



Phantom imaging, for example, is the result combing with micro art and multimedia, of which "storytelling" has become the mode of presentation in current scene. The phantom imaging based on "real scene modeling", is carried out by optical imaging of "phantom" and is projected into the main model landscape of the scene box, vividly demonstrating the development process of the story and leaving a deep impression on the audience.


In tiny space, looking for ways to show


As a representative symbol, micro art is of vital importance to the scene that is an extension of the exhibition hall. In recent years, how to innovate the way of presentation has also become a problem that I have kept thinking about. In the exhibition hall through the micro art to create the scene should be alive, grow, and can "tell a story", which is the philosophy of renewal but also the demand of the times.
When the idea of museum exhibition is created from "object" into "person", the real meaning of "people-oriented" should be considered. With the premise of "people-oriented", the designer should fully consider the importance of "object" to "person" when displaying micro art via scenes.



In the era of redefining information transmission, how to use micro art in new media has become the way of thinking of innovative scene display. Conducting the reasonable use of artificial intelligence technology to interact in micro art scenes can not only mobilize all the senses of visitors, but also control the demonstration effect and display atmosphere according to the characteristics and flow of visitors. In this way, we can promote the scene to get rid of the visual monotony caused by pure graphic display, and make the scene display more artistic, modern and humanized, leading the visitors into the "story" and participating in it. In the exhibition hall, the exhibition basically achieves the goals of "effective communication" and "positive education" when the curiosity of visitors changes from passive to active.
In addition to the application of micro art in exhibition scenes, it can also be used for making mini models of commercial marketing, film production and photos shooting. The idea of micro art integrated into the DIY of box theater has also become one of modern ways for people to relieve pressure. All these provide good ideas for innovation of exhibition scenes.



Of course, micro art will continue to grow in scenes and become one of effective approaches of "storytelling" in the exhibition hall of innovation.
"What exactly is micro art scene? Why does micro art scene appear? What is the relationship between micro art scene and exhibition? What does it interpret? What effect does it want to achieve? How does it make the way to innovate in the future?" We might have answers in mind as far as reading here. Looking forward to witnessing where the innovation of micro art scene will reach in the future.

Guo Qian

Shanghai Boyue Art Institution Co.,Ltd.

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